WASHINGTON, June 5, 2006 — The Confederation of Indian Industry, a trade group representing organizations that do business in India, spent nearly $540,000 to sponsor at least 80 trips for congressional travelers from January 2000 through June 2005, the Center for Public Integrity's analysis of travel disclosure documents showed.

CII paid for the travel of more than a dozen members of Congress and more than 50 staffers, according to the filings. Calls to the trade group's U.S. office seeking comment on its trip sponsorship were not returned.

The group's Web site says that CII, originally founded in 1895 as the Engineering and Iron Trades Association, has grown into "India's premier business association." According to the site, the group has more than 5,800 member organizations — including several multinational companies — and an "indirect membership" of more than 95,000 companies. CII's stated goal is to "develop Indian industry" through partnerships "with the government on various national and international issues concerning the Indian economy."

CII became more active in the United States and other nations in the early 1990s, when India began adopting free market economic policies. In the decade since 1994, India's economy had an average annual rate of growth of more than 7 percent, according to the CIA's online World Factbook. During the same period, India-U.S. bilateral trade also increased and the rate of new U.S. investment in India has more than tripled.

The trade group's site lists at least a dozen U.S. organizations as institutional partners. They include the National Association of Manufacturers, the Telecommunications Industry Association, the United States Energy Association, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the state of Nebraska's Department of Economic Development.